the experts are down playing concerns about radiation reaching california as japan suspends helicopter air drops at the crippled nuclear plant. good evening everyone i'm frank somerville. >> and i'm julie haener. low levels of radiation from japan are riding the winds over

the pacific tonight. sounds ominous but is it? debra villalon joins us tonight where the department of health is monitoring the air for radiation levels in the area. >> reporter: the department is monitoring changes in the atmosphere. if the radiation does arrive, scientists here will be among the first to know. it's expected to hit our coast as early as tomorrow. so diluted. radiation will be more minuscule than measurable. >> we understand everybody's concern, radiation is scary stuff. >> reporter: officials cannot say it enough, they see no health hazards. >> i'm not sure that the vision or the model of a plume this

far away is -- >> no one can predict what is going to happen at the plant tomorrow. >> reporter: that uncertainty is why so much technology at so many locations is aimed at sniffing out radiation swiftly then compares it to normal background levels which vary from place to place and also pose some mysteries. >> no one has ever been able to determine differences in cancers from one location to another based just on backgrounds. >> i'm trying to not think about it because it seems seems to overwhelm me. >> reporter: and what happens in the coming days depends on the winds. but officials say rather than worry about radiation it makes a lot more sense to get prepared for our next

earthquake. reporting live in livermore, debra villalon, ktvu. now to bill martin, he's our atmospheric expert, he's in the weather center, and he's here to help us understand why the radiation will not reach us here. >> reporter: here is the reason that the radio active chemicals are not going to reach us. where does the jet stream reside this time of year over japan? at about 30,000 feet. so number one, to get the particulate to that level, the ones that do have to make the trip above the pacific about 5,000 miles. they are breaking apart as they come over. so we're expecting to see somed readings tomorrow. but experts are expecting very light readings for that very

reason. most of that particulate not getting up that high to make the journey. today, president obama added his words to those who are trying to keep people calm. the president sayings he has asked the nuclear regulatory -- the president says he has asked the nuclear regulatory commission to conduct a review of all nuclear power plants in the unite. two are in california. the sananofre is in san clemente. within the last three hours, more smoke was spotted rising from one of the reactors. right now it is not clear what that means. the japanese military says it will not use helicopters to

drop water again tomorrow. it didn't explain why. japanese officials also said they would accept help from american nuclear experts. they are in the process now of coordinating what the u.s. can provide and what's needed. a short time ago the head of international atomic agency for the japan crisis is extremely serious and requires international cooperation. hundreds of people boarded buses to get to hundai about 60 miles from the nuclear plants. large sections of that area were damaged now some people fear radiation. some people don't believe the government's assurances about radiation. and many people are leaving japan, but tonight we meet a pilot who is staying in japan. >> my wife is at home along with our two children.

>> reporter: daper says after last week's earthquake his wife was afraid to stay in japan. so on wednesday, lewis' wife and kids boarded a plane. >> it was hard to get food. there were thoughts of power outages and so forth. it just became a more prudent decision to sent them back. >> reporter: dapper stayed behind. the california native is a pilot. dapper feels it's his duty, a public service to help keep the airplanes flying in this crisis to help people get to safer areas. >> i have a job to do. take everything in stride. it's always on your mind. >> reporter: the u.s. embassy established a help desk yesterday and arranged two

evacuation charter flights. the first carried nearly 100 people to taiwan. >> we are doing the most to confirm the safety of not only japanese but also americans. >> reporter: missing his family, but glad they are safe. >> i miss them very much. i know the harder thing is that i know they are worried for me. >> reporter: a difficult time facing an uncertain future in japan. jana katsuyama, ktvu channel 2 news. it was one week ago tonight the earthquake struck and in northern japan those who survived the quake and tsunami are now struggling to carry on. in many coastal towns, the devastation stretches as far as the eye can see. the clean up hasn't even begun. one couple went searching for their missing inlaws but gave up hope of finding them alive. it appears help still hasn't

arrived for many people in the hardest hit areas. in numbers, the crisis in japan is great. police put the official death toll up 5,692. and the number of missing stands at 9,522. officials say more than 450,000 people are staying in shelters. our coverage continues throughout this hour. at 10:30, a show of support for japan here in the bay area. one evacuee's efforts to help efforts tonight -- to his his homeland. we'll talk with a bay area engineer who worked inside the crippled plant. his take on the current crisis and problems there years ago. only on two tonight, a follow up to our exclusive report about a string of burglaries at bay area storage lockers. that report by amber lee prompted a call from another victim. amber is live in fremont tonight with the story, amber. >> reporter: frank, fremont police say there have been nine break-ins here at public

storage on enterprise street. one family told us thieves cut open their locks and replaced it with this one so the thieves can come back in again. with a heavy heart, the arbina family shows us what was left in their storage unit. >> we had a bunch of stuff in here. you can see they took everything. >> reporter: the theft was another blow to the family. they became homeless a month ago and they rented this storage locker to put their belongings. >> we are getting over it. i keep closing the door to put it behind me. >> i was like oh my god. that could be -- that could have something to do with our storage unit. >> reporter: the family told us they discovered the theft last

friday when they came to retrieve a play station, an item cherished by their son. >> why would they do that? they could just get a job and buy one. >> i just try to tell him to live his life right. >> reporter: police will be checking to see if the theft was related. >> reporter: back here live, police are now checking these surveillance cameras to see if they yield any clues. amber lee, ktvu channel 2 news. at this hour, oakland police are searching for the driver of a stolen car that crashed into another car late this afternoon. news chopper 2 is over the scene in east oakland at 60th and camden avenues as police search through backyards for the driver. police told us the stolen car sped through two stop signs before slamming into the second car. that vehicle was carrying six

people. two adults and two children were hurt but their injuries are not life threatening. police say the stolen car had been carjacked a week ago. the driver took off on foot after the crash. and i'm tracking this weather system that's headed our way. it's a strong one. it's a cold one, it's a wet one. i'll have details on your tomorrow forecast. a pastor, his mother and wife arrested with a show down with officers today. the reason why, more common than you migh

an update now on a story we first brought you monday involving the foreclosure and eviction of an east bay church. patti lee is live in richmond where the church pastor and four others were arrested late this afternoon for refusing to vacate that property. patti. >> reporter: tonight there's a new padlock on the church fence. there's also new locks on the church door all changed today under the protection of sheriff's deputies and police officers. this protester went limp as sheriffs carried him across the street and loaded him into a van. he and two others blocked the

entrance of the epetholic church to prevent officers from leaving with his pastor. >> let him go, let him go. >> reporter: sidney keys who had been arrested along with his mother and his wife for trespassing and resisting arrest. >> this is wrong. what they're doing to these people, pastor and his church is all wrong. they've been working for nine straight year, putting this church together for the community. >> reporter: organizers tell us the drama today was by design. >> the banks think that they can get away with kicking families out of their homes, kicking churches out of their buildings, taking all of the vital things out of our communities. >> reporter: banks are often more willing to work with borrowers when they know there maybe a show down. >> it's an unfortunate situation. you never want it to get to that point. it was a court order. we had to carry it out. if they had complied with the notice of eviction we would not even be talking. >> reporter: aids of congressman miller were also at the church this afternoon.

they told me this is the sixth church in the district lost to foreclosure. in this case, church leaders asked for help too late in the process. but if organizations and individuals ask for help early, the outcomes could be different. reporting live in richmond,patti lee. a lab technician pled guilty, raymond clark iii also pled guilty to attempted rape. he will be sentenced to 44 years in prison. a possible plea deal for nancy garrido didn't come together today as her attorney expected in a place rville court. she and her husband are accused

of kid -p thatting jaycee due -- of kidnapping jaycee dugard. it's a story ktvu's rita williams has been following since 2003 when we first learned of the balco scandal. >> reporter: if you didn't get a summons to appear here at the san francisco federal building today, forget it you won't be on barry bond's jury. about 100 people from 15 counties did. and filled out these 19 pages of questions designed to root out strong opinions or biases. here's one. do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of barry bonds or no opinion. >> it's always the mush in the middle that ends up mostly on juries with a few exceptions. you will have a couple of leaders. sometimes in opposite directions. >> reporter: attorneys and jury

consultants on both sides will pour other the completed questionnaires this weekend and start asking questions in person monday morning. the judge ruled today those picked to sit here as jurors will not be allowed to hear some heated angry and at times profanity laced voice mails bonds left for his exmistress kimberly bell. >> you're up to something other than that. girl, i ain't playing. >> reporter: but bell will be allowed to testify about changes in bonds' body she says came with the steroids use. >> between 1999 and 2000 this is something he was doing. >> reporter: the judge will pick the 12 jurors and two alternates that will decide bonds' case. and stay with ktvu and

ktvu.com, we will bring you the latest development as they happen. since our live report from sacramento during the ktvu news at 5:00, both chambers approved more cuts bringing their total to $14 million. they did not decide on the most controversial of the governor brown's proposals. >> i think the governor is playing a little heavy handed. and it's really unfortunate. he had some cooperation and now it's almost turned into ill will. negotiations are expected to last through the weekend. the latest ktvu field poll finds californians think this night such a great place to live. in fact, 39% thought it was one of the best places to live. that is the lowest assessment

in 44 years. 30% rated california as average or poor. when asked about their personal financial well being 38% said they were worse off. 50% said there was no change and 12% said they were better off. a lot of responses were influenced by the individuals earnings. where we are along way from ireland but across the bay area tonight, thousands of celebrating st. patrick's day. a sea of green wearing and beer drinking revelers filled the street with the financial district this evening during happy hour. they enjoyed beers from boot shaped mugs. the view from chopper 2 shows a packed crowd. look at all those people from california and sacramento streets. the party started early in san jose. customers there wearing whatever green they could find. green beer appears to be the

beer of choice. the bar owner said business was very, very good today. all of that drinking could lead to serious consequences out on the road. tonight law enforcement agencies across the bay area are using check points and extra patrols to deter drinking and driving. the highway patrol tells us it hasn't received a lot of problems but is receiving a lot of calls from motorists alerting them to suspected drunk drivers. and we have wet roads in the north bay right now. live storm tracker two picking up showers, light showers from san jose to nevado. this is just the precursor of what's coming tomorrow. the main frontal band will be way north by 7:00 a.m. as we get into about 11:00 a.m., you see this front sliding through the bay area. we'll see some wind, we'll see some significant rainfall rates for a time as this yellow band moves through the bay area just around lunchtime. then bang, there you go into

your afternoon commute. heavy showers for the afternoon commute. scattered showers for everybody else. there's more rain after this. when i come back we have the computer model. i'm going to show that to you, it does show rain for the weekend. in washington, d.c. today, the house voted to cut off funding. the bill passed mostly along partisan lines. democrats said it was a voice of reason. mpr received almost $5 million in federal funds. the democratic controlled senate is not likely to pass that bill. a solemn memorial to a surfer killed off the san mateo coast. why he's been remembered as an inspiration to surfers around the world. in san jose tonight, a

we are learning more tonight about the surfer who died at mavericks. friends tell us that he was named surfer of the year last month and used that prize money to surf here to catch the big waves. >> reporter: surfers paddled out to mavericks then they paddled back. there were flowers, hugs, a wave of emotion as friend honored the life of mion molasky. >> you can see that he embraced where he was at and what he was doing with all his heart. >> he was untouchable out there yesterday. whole other level.

>> reporter: maloski had gone down and was pulled from the ocean unresponsive. >> he made the drop and the wave exploded behind him. >> reporter: this interview posted on you tube shows molaski recently talking about his passion. >> i just want to sit from the seats of my pants and enjoy surfing while i'm still young. >> reporter: today that i had wore red ribbons to honor their young warrior. >> incredibly brave and humble human being. a family man, and an athlete on top of his game. >> reporter: while the sun sets on the day and the years ahead, the story, the legend of sion will always be told by those in the water. mike mibach. a homeless man in a wheelchair who was shot by san francisco police is suing. duncan is mentally ill and has

filed a suit against the oakland police department. district attorney george gascon says it's something he started looking into when he was police chief. >> police in any major city but in san francisco more so, we have a tremendous amount of contact with people with mental illness. and this is a process that you always learn and you always want to get better at. >> reporter: police say they opened fire on duncan on january 1st because he stabbed an officer. vallejo police are looking for a man tonight who is suspected of stabbing a a mcdonalds employee. police say the man named vinny or vincent stopped the

mcdonalds employee after being asked to leave. what a bay area man has to say about the nuclear plant and safety problems he

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in san jose tonight there was a memorial and a fundraiser for the victims and survivors of last week's earthquake and tsunami in japan. lloyd lacuesta is live. >> reporter: the japan earthquake struck a week ago

tonight. and people gathered here at the buddhist temple to remember. close to 300 people stood in a moment of silence. it was an interfaith memorial. >> he prayed for strength and courage and patience. >> reporter: in the crowd tonight a refugee from the quake. >> the trees were moving, not moving with the wind but moving almost touching the ground. i started to get seasick because the shaking was so violent. >> reporter: jesse paloren is a school teacher from chiba japan, around 250 250 miles from the leaking reactor. his father is american, his mother japanese. conditions he says are deteriorating in japan. >> we're safe, but yesterday wednesday was a very difficult day for me. i felt a lot of guilty. i feel like a coward.

>> reporter: polaren has funneled his energies into raising money for disaster relief. and he says that is making him feel better. >> there's people up north who probably haven't had a warm meal or water in days. japan is near its breaking point. and your help, it will help japan. >> reporter: tonight's donation drive is organize organized by the japan council and in an hour's time raised $31,000. there's other ways to contribute. jesse pelorin told me tonight he will return to japan with his family when he feels it is safe to do so. live in san jose, lloyd lacuesta. ktvu channel 2 news. japan's stocks posted strong gains in early friday

trading. the nikkei was up 30 points. the japanese market was bolstered by an agreement today by g7 officials to try to weaken the japanese yen. the currency has surged following last week's earthquake and tsunami. the strong yen may increase the economic impact of the disaster. the g7 announcement came just as stock trading opened in tokyo on friday. the crisis in japan is forcing general motors to halt production of two of its vehicles. the chevrolet colorado and gmc canyon trucks are made in f reeport louisiana, however some parts come from japan and that has halted production.

previously toyota and subaru stalled production. hawaii is the top -- and brought almost $2 billion in tourist dollars just last year. typically there are 13 direct flights from japan to hawaii each day. japan's fukashima nuclear power plant first began generating electricity 40 years ago. i was design bid general electric and is one of the largest nuclear power stations in the world. eric rassmusen spoke with a former engineer who now lives in martinez who says he saw problems years ago. >> i just saw a routine survey. >> reporter: the man on the video was the former engineer's first time inside a nuclear reactor at the plant in japan. >> they had to of course take all the fuel out and drain it down and clean it up. they put a lead work platform down there. and they sent american workers over to do the job. suck up the radiation.

>> reporter: it's the same plant where last week's earthquake and tsunami knocked out power. >> i don't think this was ever going to happen. i don't think any of my friends thought this would happen. i would like their thoughts if they are alive. >> reporter: ge laid them off in 1998. >> i was one of the better workers around. >> reporter: he says he was laid off for blowing the whistle. >> japanese say that's the botel. botel in japanese means old. not in good condition reactor. >> reporter: he shows us a logbook and notes he's kept for 20 years. >> why did you hold on to those? >> because i wanted to, i just kept them because, a lot of times you have lessons learned from each plant. >> reporter: but even he says

there's little japan could have done to with stand a disaster like this one. we have posted more of our interview with mr. sugooco at ktvu.com. you will find it on the japan quake tab. for the first time the centers for disease control is reporting a documented case of a transplant patient contracting aids from a live kidney donor. the donor gave unprotected gay sex between the time of the test and donating the surgery a month later. cope was the co-pilot during a december 2005 flight from austin to denver that is under scrutiny. the u.s. attorney's office isn't saying how many time cone spent at the controls.

two men attacked in a troubling hate crime case. the neighborhood where the crimes are happening. and we're going to look at the long range computer model. it has rain. and part of the ls

throughout your body. the latest research shows cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals that spread through your blood vessels... causing inflammation and clotting... restricting oxygen flow... and doubling your risk of heart attack and death... i'm dr. regina benjamin, u.s. surgeon general. with each cigarette, you have to ask yourself: "is this the one that will cause a heart attack?" if you really want to quit smoking, call 1-800-quit-now. nurses at oakland's children's hospital picketed outside the hospital. the hospital and nurses union are negotiating a new contract.

their last one expired in may. nurses say the new program makes it hard for them to send their own children to the hospital. the san francisco district attorney says white supremacist crimes are up in one neighborhood. five white supremacists attacked two men leaving a bar for no reason. >> it has furthered our intelligence, our knowledge of white supremacy groups in the city. >> three of the five men were charged with hate crimes, they

have pled not guilty. in october, a jury convicted 24-year-old miguel chidel for murder for hiring a hit man. garcia and aquile were seeing the same woman. garcia's sentencing date has not yet been set. in news of the world tonight, at the united nations the security panel imposed a no fly zone. that could lead to air strikes against gadhafi's forces. in libya, government -- fears of radiation from japan -- in toke yo, fears of

radiation from japan is causing people buying salt. britain's prince williams visited christchurch today on behalf of his grandmother queen elizabeth. he thanked workers who responded to the quake. and members of the entertainment agency rallied today in san francisco. they are opposed to a plan to create a separate internet address for pornographic websites. they want to replace.com with.xxx for adulthood websites. the adult entertainment industry says the change would be easier to block adult websites and cost them millions

of the dollars to replace their web addresses. and our chief meteorologist tracking another wet

an update now to a story we first brought you last night. a stretch of highway 1 is closed indefinitely. the road collapsed leaving a gaping hole cutting off traffic to big sur. >> reporter: big sur is considered by many to be the most beautiful coastline in the world but now there is a very ugly and scary collapsed section of highway 1 south of caramel near rocky point cutting off all traffic on highway town of big sur.

>> this is one thing i definitely wanted to see was big sur. to not be able to get there is a little disappointing. >> reporter: the collapse is a mystery to caltrans. there hasn't been much rain here and no mud slides. the collapsed section is basically solid rock that cracked off leaving a steep slope to the ocean. caltrans says a team of workers is being brought in to determine what happened and what can be done. >> with a catastrophic failure like this, the fix is not going to be easy. >> reporter: business in and around big sur are open. >> although there are longer alternative routes using highways 101, 68 and 46, that doesn't help the usually popular rocky point restaurant which is off highway 1 just before the collapsed section but past the point where many cars turn around and leave. >> right now the business is of

course very slow because there is absolutely no traffic. >> reporter: caltrans says it could stay that way for months because right now what's left of the collapsed section is still cracking and moving. at big sur, robert handa, ktvu channel 2 news. help will soon be available for farmers in the central valley after a freeze and heavy know damaged crops late last year. the federal government issued an emergency declaration covering mono and stanislaus. farmers can now apply for low interest loans to recover their losses. and for the last year, crews have been working in the arenda side. a ktvu crew went to the tunnel today but the boring machine was not operating. $420million project will add two lanes to highway 24 and to check out the photos of that 3,200-foot tunnel just go to our website and click on the

slide show tab. it's all on ktvu.com. stocks rebounded today and ended st. patrick's day trading in the green for the first time this week. strong economic reports sent the dow industrial soaring. the nasdaq climbed to 19. the rate for a 30 year fix fell to 4.76%. the late for a five year adjustable mortgage fell by 3.97%. lower rates are not enough to spark buyers. just under 5,000 homes were purchased in the bay area last month. that is a 1% drop from the previous february. and 243 of those homes were newly built making it the worse month for new home sales since

records started being kept back in 1988. life storm tracker two picking up showers right now. let's go right to it and you'll see the live radar sweep and you will see the showers showing up in san rafael. napa and san francisco. these are light showers at this point. a little bit of heavier activity. that's stinson beach. you will see showers pick up. we'll back this up and put it in motion so you can get a feel of where this thing is going. this rain band i'll put in the latest, you're going to pick up light showers. really this is just the beginning of what's heading our way. this system loads up tonight. some sprinkles show up then tomorrow it starts to rain. some wind too. the main impact of this thing will be more rain, more wind, cooler air and a chance of a thunderstorms late afternoon. on a scale of one to 10 i will

give it a 7.5 to 10. heaviest rain between 10:00 to 2:00. most of us a half inch to a quarter inch. it's going to occur with -- some showers showing up on the peninsula as well. the real show gets going right around noon. about 11:30, 4:00, basically the entire bay area is getting wet. then you see the system slide to about 6:00 p.m. in the mountains there's a storm warning. scattered showers, that's saturday afternoon. breaks in the clouds. that's saturday evening and then here we go into sunday. look at this, your sunday is wet all day. then you get into sunday evening, that's a strong one. the strongest of all these weather systems. bubut an inch of rain, half inc of rain that's a good sized weather system. so there could be some pooling in the roadways as you travel

around on your friday which is always difficult any way just to get around. so plan according ly on this as you travel tomorrow afternoon. there will be standing water. there'll be rain coming down especially in the santa clara valley. saturday, scattered showers not great day but sunday. the rain comes in again. i think julie just rolled her eyes. >> i did. did you see that. >> i think everybody is over it. we've been releasing water from shasta dam but there's a lot more water coming. >> a lot coming,. >> thanks bill. an american auto brand has been crowned the most dependable in the world. ford's lincoln brand took top honors in the dependability survey. lexus came in second, followed

by jaguar, porsche and toyota. coca-cola is keeping its number one spot. and diet coke is moving into the number two spot passing texas. one reason is american idol. coke is the sponsor of the popular show. it is an 8-pound piece of gold found in california last year.

how much would you pay for an 8-pound nugget of gold? an anonymous buyer from back east paid $460,000 for it during an auction in sacramento. that's way over the flat value of $137,000 it would be worth at current gold prices. it is one of the largest gold nuggets ever found in california. a man found it last year in nevada county and he's reportedly very pleased with how much it went for. yeah, i'll bet. all right mark is off, fred inglis here. a lot of basketball to talk about but we're starting tonight with hockey. >> those sharks they played without their second leading

scorer danny heatley tonight. san jose simply went to their all time leading scorer to nail down the victory. the minnesota wild wore their white jerseys today. and nicholas backtrum got some help from some wild defenders. they were still 2-2 after two playing periods. one of those greasy goals but marlon scores the game winner. well for the first time in 20 years, no bay area team made it to the ncaa men's basketball tournament. in fact, just two california teams remain alive. sacramento state and ncaa. and this is a southeast region

contest as the spartans outscore the bruins. gonzaga took on st. johns. apparently promoting tootsie pops. bulldogs looked better than an 11 seed. goodson will cap off this steal with the break. well the biggest upset of the day was in denver where 13 seeded morehead took on louisville. morhead state is down by two.

harper drills the three pointer. harper in the 13th ranked morehaed eagles. butler last by two points in the national championship game last year. and today butler was trying to do the same thing. wild shot, but butler teammate mat howard scores the game winner. eight seeded butler wins by a butler at old dominion. the giants beat the angels. where leprocauns can come in all sizes, don't you know. those good enough to beat the cubs. gio gonzalez strikes out six through six innings. curt susuki answers with two runs. that is sports as we see it this thursday night. sharks doing enough to keep on

winning. >> an exciting basketball game. really close. >> good to see those kind of teams that really have no chance of winning at all. but just that chance to play one more game. >> ucla making 17 free throws. >> and